Omnivorous Surfer

I had occasion to extract video clips from an unprotected, copyright-free DVD a couple of weeks ago, and I found a simple, FREE program which fit my needs. Knowing teachers in particular might find it useful sometimes to pull clips for classroom use, I thought I'd share it here.

I looked at several options, but the one I ended up using because of its simplicity was bitRipper. As you can see from the screen shot at left, it has a minimalist interface. Most of us would never need to make any changes to the settings, but I did expand the Settings window for the image; otherwise, you work only with the smaller window. Those of you who, unlike me, know what you're doing, or who like to experiment, have the option of making some more advanced options about your output. I used bitRipper without making any changes to the default settings and had excellent results.

You choose your video clip by chapter from a drop-down list. Without titles, that can be a little tricky; however, I could choose mine from this DVD by its length. The video is converted to an AVI format and saved to your hard drive...and it's ready to play on your Windows computer. It really couldn't be any simpler!

I also found WinX Free DVD Ripper, which has additional functions. I didn't need any of these at the time, but I will keep it in mind for use if and when I do. This one will rip and convert to not only AVI, but also MP4, H.264, FLV, WMV, MPEG, MOV, or other popular video formats. It also gives the option of separating the audio from the DVD video, saving it as an MP3 file. It also supports capturing pictures from the video through screenshots.

If you want to insert the video in a PowerPoint presentation, the 2007 version will accept the following formats: ASF, AVI, MGP, MPET, or WMV.